Mauricio Bejarano

RainforestMD Co-founder and CEO

[Stuart Hameroff @StuartHameroff]

Newton, Einstein, Penrose

[JJ @JosephJacks_]

I remain shocked at how ridiculed and dismissed @StuartHameroff is …. Do people not understand that he is simultaneously the most successful consciousness theorist AND experimentalist (50,000+ anesthesias by his own hand without a single glitch). Orch OR is far from easy to understand and requires some serious patience to fully understand, including where it is still being refined. But alas, there are still a huge amount of people who don’t even think nature and all of biology is quantum mechanical. Critical thought at these levels is rare.

[Dan Therriault @dantherriault]

Screenwriters get little respect. People don’t even understand what screenwriters do. (They actually write the film, the characters, the action, the theme, the story, etc.)

Most react to Nolan as a director.
Nolan is the sole screenwriter on the movie The Odyssey.

Being such a powerful filmmaker Nolan could have made almost anything. Any superhero movie. Any high concept contemporary sci-fi, horror or thriller.

Nolan the writer, the English major, decided to adapt Homer. An ancient poem. And write his own adaptation (translation) to deliver an accessible blockbuster movie that will deliver this ancient story and Western myth to a global cinematic audience. Seen in every country, in every language.

Not by academics, not a small off-off Broadway play, but a monster film of visual art.

And people are attacking him.

Interestingly, the controversy and attacks are helping the film. Like in the old days. Controversy used to be seen as free publicity. Until recently with “woke” attacks from left and right, studios shied away from anything controversial.

Nolan proves that controversy is again a huge advantage.
You stick to your guns. You produce the work - you tackle the toughest and greatest works of art through visual storytelling - and let the eruptions begin.

Then ignore it. The film will stand (or fall) in time with no one remembering the criticism - as has happened with so many films of the past.

[New York Magazine @NYMag]

Michael Levin did not expect to reach middle age and still be making a living as a biology professor. He figured his life trajectory would likely involve getting kicked out of the academy, as the academy is fond of people asking narrow questions, not boundary-crashing, precariously close-to-woo-sounding paradigmatic thinkers whose ideas strain the limits of language. Yet the opposite has happened — he’s become a foremost expert in his field, and to many, a cult hero.

Levin has been releasing his ideas slowly his entire adult life. Five years ago, he was at 50 percent. Now he’s at 80 percent. A big jump came last year when Levin published a preprint paper called “Ingressing Minds.” In it, he argues that intelligence comes from a nonphysical realm and flows (“ingresses”) into bodies. That nonphysical realm, he says, is where mathematical ideas like pi and e reside. We already accept there is some stuff in that realm. Why would we assume there is not more?

Critics accuse Levin of all kinds of teleological crimes — making unfalsifiable claims, using words in ways that render those words meaningless. Levin is unfazed. His true retort is his wet lab. There, at the bench, he’s working to prove his metaphysics by running old-school (in a way) biological experiments. He studies flatworms with two heads. Frogs with eyes on their stomachs. Little round creatures called xenobots, synthesized from frog skin cells. They swim like tiny Pac-Men. They do not exist in nature.

Elizabeth Weil spends time with the biologist who argues that your body has many minds: https://t.co/TaeRjReQLi

[bobwolf @bobwolf]

See the Whole Picture

Episode 1 — Why Perspective Matters

Good evening. Before you believe today's headlines, let's step back for just a minute...

Every morning, millions of us wake up and scroll through headlines. Within minutes, we're told the economy is collapsing, technology is replacing us, the world is more divided than ever, and tomorrow looks darker than today.

Some of those stories describe real problems. They deserve our attention.

But here's what headlines rarely give us: perspective.

Headlines are designed to tell us what happened. They don't always explain why it happened, how it compares with history, what progress is also taking place, or what opportunities might exist alongside the challenges.

That's why I'm starting this daily conversation.

Not to tell you what to think.

Not to convince you to agree with me.

But to help all of us—including me—pause long enough to ask better questions.

Because when we zoom out, something interesting happens.

We discover that history is full of difficult moments that people believed would never end. Yet generation after generation found ways to innovate, adapt, rebuild, and move forward.

The world isn't perfect.

It never has been.

But neither is it hopeless.

Every day there are scientists solving problems, teachers changing lives, entrepreneurs creating opportunities, neighbors helping neighbors, and ordinary people doing extraordinary things that never become front-page news.

Those stories matter too.

That's the picture I want us to see together.

From now on, every morning we'll take one story from the news and ask a few simple questions:

What really happened?
What are people saying?
What might we be missing?
What does history teach us?
And what can we do with that knowledge?

Because perspective isn't about changing your opinion.

It's about seeing enough of the picture to make a better one.

So before we move on with our day, here's today's question:

What's one thing you see differently today?

I'm Bob Milani, the Perspective Guy.

Thank you for listening.

Stay curious.

Stay kind.

See the whole picture.

I'll see you tomorrow.

[@jason @Jason]

The appearance of impropriety that the 47th administration is signaling is the perfect way to accelerate the democratic socialist movement, the America First/America Only movement & the creation of @TuckerCarlson's 3rd party.

We need to get money out of politics by paying the President a top salary, say the median/mean salary of the top publicly traded companies ($25M a year/$100m a term).

We then need to do something similar (at a smaller scale) for VPs and members of Congress.

Finally, we have to limit all donations and cap SuperPACs' spending.

Our system is completely bought and sold at this point.

Please explain to me why you think I'm wrong.

[Mauricio Bejarano @mobejarano]

💯

[Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal]

🇫🇷 Four years ago, Maja Chwalińska was battling depression so severe she could barely get out of bed.

Last week, the 24-year-old arrived in Paris ranked No. 114 in the world, with no sponsors, no guaranteed income, and uncertainty over how she would even pay for her hotel room.

She fought through three qualifying matches just to enter the French Open, then stunned the tennis world with nine straight victories to reach the final.

Now she is guaranteed at least $1.6 million, with $3.25 million awaiting if she wins the title.

A week ago she was worrying about a hotel bill. Today, she is living proof that fairy tales sometimes do come true.

[Paloma Valencia L @PalomaValenciaL]

¿Vas a votar por Cepeda? Antes de decidir, habla con pacientes de enfermedades crónicas, con quienes esperan medicamentos o con los afectados por la crisis de salud. Piensa bien: de esa decisión depende la salud de millones de colombianos.

[Juan Camilo Merlano @JuanCMerlano]

Me gustó mucho este mensaje de Antonella.

[David Shapiro (L/0) @DaveShapi]

The more you learn about Hollywood the more evil you realize it is, and the less worried about AI you are.

The amount of creative gatekeeping is insane. The amount of control is insane.

Bring on the AI art. Bring on the AI anime, movies, and series. We're going to have a supernova of creative content.

Not the sanitized, committee-approved garbage we have today.

For those that remember the Golden Age of the anime OVA, we're going to get that.

No more gatekeepers. No more ratings agencies. No more big business. Totally uncensored and creatively liberated storytelling.

[Cathy Juvinao🌻💚 @CathyJuvinao]

Seamos claros: al centro no hay que enviarle rosas, ni cartas, ni poemas sobre ‘el lado correcto de la historia’. No hay que improvisar simpatías ni soltar de la nada halagos forzados. Tampoco es cuestión de transmitir propuestas ‘con alegría’ ni de convencernos con kpopers.

Las diferencias entre el centro político y el petrismo son reales, son profundas y requieren ser tratadas con adultez. Antes que buscar reconciliaciones de colegio hay que habilitar una conversación auténtica que no pasa por marchas ni cacerolazos, y en cambio sí por ser capaces de ir al fondo de nuestras visiones de país.

El proyecto de izquierda petrista le demostró al centro estos 4 años: que son autoritarios e irrespetuosos de las instituciones, empezando por el presidente. Que se untaron de la corrupción más vomitiva y que adoptaron el deporte del clientelismo y nepotismo solapados. Se dedicaron a desmantelar las capacidades técnicas del Estado y financiaron con recursos públicos ejércitos digitales y mediáticos a fin de hostigar y deshumanizar a sus contradictores de centro. Dejaron claro que son capaces de arrasar el sistema de salud con tal de imponer su ideología y cedieron nuestra soberanía ante grupos armados ilegales sin ningún beneficio verificable para el Estado o los ciudadanos. Dejaron colgados a centenares de miles de estudiantes que no hacen parte de su visión sectaria, acabaron la ciencia, empoderaron julianas sin una gota de vergüenza y sostuvieron a los peores misóginos y machistas en el alto gobierno. El presidente fue racista y clasista. Por esto y mucho más, es muy difícil para una parte grande del centro creer en promesas desesperadas, placas en mármol o rituales vacíos. Y qué pena pero no hay cómo juzgarles.

La pregunta ahora es hasta dónde está dispuesto @IvanCepedaCast a concertar un segundo gobierno en alianza con el centro. No para ganar elecciones, no para usarlo y luego pisotearlo. Sino gobernar con él de verdad y acoger sus propuestas en materia de reformas y diversos asuntos y proyectos.

Petro lo prometió en 2022 e incumplió con saña. De Cepeda depende construir un camino auténtico y creíble para que el centro pueda confiar en él.

No está fácil. Y 4 días después de la primera vuelta el candidato no parece estarse moviendo mucho.

[Paloma Valencia L @PalomaValenciaL]

Nuestro deber es mantener la democracia y para eso es necesario derrotar a Iván Cepeda.

[Daniel F. Briceño @Danielbricen]

@petrogustavo Petro no acepta los resultados porque está perdiendo. Estamos listos para defender la constitución y la ley.

Petro quiere quedarse en el poder a toda costa y aquí estamos para enfrentarlo.

[Gabriel Valles @GabrielValles]

Reality check: An extraordinarily small percentage of artists will ever work on a handmade animated film from a major studio. You have a better chance of making it to the NFL. If you do work on one, it’s work-for-hire, which means you don’t own the IP. You get paid, and when the project is over, you’re laid off. If you’re lucky and the film does well, you get to work on the next one. There are only a handful of jobs available on these projects, so opportunities for new artists are rare.

Guillermo will get paid for his films until he dies. Most of the crew will get paid once and then hope they can find another job. My son started a stop-motion channel when he was 12. At 21, he gets paid every month from his library of 552 videos. He owns everything and has hard-earned skills.

Guillermo isn’t an animator, model builder, storyboard artist, or character designer. Disney couldn’t draw better than his worst artist. And that’s okay. They are master storytellers who use skills they don’t personally possess to realize their visions.

Here are your options if you have stories to tell through animation: start making films on your own. I don’t care what medium you use, including AI. Build a fan base that can support your work.

If you’re among the tiny fraction of artists who get a chance to work at a major studio, go in knowing that you’ll get paid and own nothing. Don’t act shocked when you’re laid off. Plan on adapting, and use your time at the studio as social capital. I still get a lot of mileage out of having worked on Space Jam.

Use AI as a force multiplier. Prove Guillermo wrong. Show that you can tell great stories using skills you don’t personally have, just like Disney and Guillermo. You now have the power of an entire studio on your computer, and everyone is underestimating you. Show them you’re making stories by humans, for humans.

You can die with the ideas in your head, or you can use AI to help bring them to life.

Whatever you choose to do, ignore the internet mob. They can’t tell stories better than you. They can’t draw. They can’t create characters. They’re not there on principle. It’s a social contagion. They all repeat the same chants and slogans they’ve been programmed to regurgitate. They won’t be there to pay your bills.

And if a big-shot director looks down on you, tell him his opinion might matter when he starts sharing the life-time profits from his movies with the crews who supplied the skills he didn’t have.

[Angélica Lozano Correa @AngelicaLozanoC]

La noche anterior a elecciones (sábado) se fundamenta en que toda la policía está en alistamiento o comenzando el operativo de seguridad del domingo.

Abusivo imponerla desde mañana viernes en Bogotá.

Se justifica la víspera; no dos noches antes. Perjudica libertades y trabajos.

[Cathy Juvinao🌻💚 @CathyJuvinao]

Respetada María José: el problema de que Uds. hayan abusado del sistema de medios públicos y de tantos recursos del Estado, es que ya no tienen autoridad para criticar nada: ni la corrupción, ni el clientelismo, ni el nepotismo, ni la violencia machista, ni la violencia política, ni el constreñimiento de grupos armados ilegales, ni el reclutamiento, ni nada.

El abuso de poder siempre se devuelve y por eso es tan importante evitarlo. Muchos podemos criticar a El Heraldo por su decisión, excepto las huestes del petrismo. Lo que Uds. le hicieron al sistema de medios públicos, abusando de los impuestos de todos los colombianos (a diferencia de los medios privados), es vulgar.

El costo que ahora deben pagar es que ya no tienen autoridad ni legitimidad para cuestionar.

Asúmanlo.

[Basenji @cryptobasenji]

🗳️🇨🇴Now that I've been spending more time on the Colombian elections, I have to update my personal regional ranking:🐾

The Colombian left has officially displaced the Argentine left as the benchmark for collective stupidity and incompetence in Latin America. These people cling to the state like a drowning man clings to driftwood.

Drop them in the private sector and they'd be petitioning Petro for an emergency decree to bring them back by next week.

[Andrew Kolvet @AndrewKolvet]

Spencer Pratt is the single best campaigner of his generation, and it’s not particularly close.